BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[LindaB220]

If it were my call, it would already be on youtube, however I'm #2 Son and even #1 son doesn't make those kind of calls.He can ask or suggest. I've seen it and it is interesting, showing the farm and their stock but about 10 or 12 minutes of the cut version is about the pullets.

Brother will be here for a few more days, and I'll try to get him to pressure dad to let him put it on Utube. That's the best I can do.

Thanks for all your help. If it happens, it happens.

 

[BCMaraniac]

The american version of caponizing is to go from the left side. Females only have one ovary and it's on the left. If you see it you know to stop. My problem is that I can't have roosters crowing around here. Bottom line. Get them early enough and they never start.

I think another reason is that the left testicle is much more easily seen from the initial incision on the left side than the right testicle is from the right side. I think that this was a way to reduce failure rate in a less experienced caponizer....which most of us are. I guess the long and short of it is that if you find one on the left, then you know there's another one on the right, but if you don't find one on the right, then that doesn't mean there isn't one on the left.

 

[garp94]

So my forthcoming project that I am gathering stock for is.... Rhodebars - they have an intresting history. Meant to be a more productive version of the RIR I don't think they really ever achieved that. But I am going to try and change that!

I have lined up about three dozen eggs from two different sellers ( umm.... Would not call them breeders though, as far as I can tell this is their first year with rhodebars...), and should be getting another two - three dozen production red eggs ( these are true production reds that are bred from RIR stock but solely selected for laying ability). That will give me some nice foundation stock to start with. I will try to have two groups to start with.

Group A - Rhodebar cock in with the production red hens - I will then take those resulting f1 hens that will be barred and select for production traits.

Group B - Pure rhodebar group - cocks that will be kept are purely double factor cocks - unless there is an exceptional cock that only carries one copy of the barred gene.

These two groups will give me a nice base line to start with. I will be intertwining the production reds closely with the Rhodebars - I will be starting with egg size and production moving on.

I have a lot of work ahead of me - This maybe the most ambitious rhodebar project undertaken in North America.

just starting to read through this tread, and wanted to wish you luck and success with that.
That would be quite an accomplishment.

 

[LindaB220]

Hey guys, hope your day was good. Got a bit accomplished on getting my 6 day old babies into the outdoors. Of course it rained so I'll be waiting for a day or two. I'm treasuring all the rain we have gotten this past week or so. We'll remember it in August.

 

[Turk Raphael]

I'm back to 50 Dark Cornish meat birds..We concluded we didn't like the Austra-Whites and gave them to Mr. Jimmy. He couldn't be happier.

Everyone still made out pretty well with Brother's trip...including Brother. He had a great time and didn't leave 'til Sunday afternoon. had a very enjoyable stay. He especially enjoyed the track!!!

I finally got some good news that I was sorta' worried about. I have been accepted into the fall class at U of Louisville where I will pursue my PhD. I received my Masters in 2011 and had plans to advance later but I now find myself in a situation where I can begin sooner than expected.

So much for the vacation to Brazil that we had planned for late summer. My nose will be to the grind stone for the next two and a half years.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I'm back to 50 Dark Cornish meat birds..We concluded we didn't like the Austra-Whites and gave them to Mr. Jimmy. He couldn't be happier.

Everyone still made out pretty well with Brother's trip...including Brother. He had a great time and didn't leave 'til Sunday afternoon. had a very enjoyable stay. He especially enjoyed the track!!!

I finally got some good news that I was sorta' worried about. I have been accepted into the fall class at U of Louisville where I will pursue my PhD. I received my Masters in 2011 and had plans to advance later but I now find myself in a situation where I can begin sooner than expected.

So much for the vacation to Brazil that we had planned for late summer. My nose will be to the grind stone for the next two and a half years.

Congratulations!! What is your course of study for your PhD?

 

[LindaB220]

I'm back to 50 Dark Cornish meat birds..We concluded we didn't like the Austra-Whites and gave them to Mr. Jimmy. He couldn't be happier.

Everyone still made out pretty well with Brother's trip...including Brother. He had a great time and didn't leave 'til Sunday afternoon. had a very enjoyable stay. He especially enjoyed the track!!!

I finally got some good news that I was sorta' worried about. I have been accepted into the fall class at U of Louisville where I will pursue my PhD. I received my Masters in 2011 and had plans to advance later but I now find myself in a situation where I can begin sooner than expected.

So much for the vacation to Brazil that we had planned for late summer. My nose will be to the grind stone for the next two and a half years.

Woohoo, Turk. Great News!!!!! Yeah, you all had a win-win on that deal. Mr. Jimmy can work it off.

 

[bmvf]

Well, all my birds are doing great. So far no death losses on the 25 Cornish x's and Pioneers along with the 23 New Hampshire's I got at the end of May. The new Hampshire's seem huge for their age.

Someone mentioned feeding fermented feed and I'm probably not going to do so. It looks like it takes planning and a little extra work to pull off. I'm hoping to save on feed costs by using chicken tractors to add some forage to the diet.

It also appears we're in the pig business. On Saturday someone stopped in with a little pig. Her daughter was driving and this piglet ran out on the road. She stopped and picked him up and took him home to her mom. They both came to our farm looking for a home for the pig.

Well, turns out 'Wilber' is an escape artists. An hour after he arrived I was about to go to my cousins for some pig feed and saw him out. I got him, put him in his pen and went to get feed. I returned to find him gone, and we couldn't find him. A few hours later after milking I was going up the pasture lane to close the fence for the cows for the night. I look at the clearing in the woods and am sure I see this pig jogging along. The clearing is nearly 500 yards away from his original destination and it is across a stream and some swampy areas. This morning my father notices the pig in the heifer pasture and we go to pick him up. I get there and see a scene straight of a 'Babe' movie as it appears he is talking to a heifer which is just feet away. Anyway, we catch him and put him in another pen with more security.

 

[LindaB220]

Well, all my birds are doing great. So far no death losses on the 25 Cornish x's and Pioneers along with the 23 New Hampshire's I got at the end of May. The new Hampshire's seem huge for their age.

Someone mentioned feeding fermented feed and I'm probably not going to do so. It looks like it takes planning and a little extra work to pull off. I'm hoping to save on feed costs by using chicken tractors to add some forage to the diet.

It also appears we're in the pig business. On Saturday someone stopped in with a little pig. Her daughter was driving and this piglet ran out on the road. She stopped and picked him up and took him home to her mom. They both came to our farm looking for a home for the pig.

Well, turns out 'Wilber' is an escape artists. An hour after he arrived I was about to go to my cousins for some pig feed and saw him out. I got him, put him in his pen and went to get feed. I returned to find him gone, and we couldn't find him. A few hours later after milking I was going up the pasture lane to close the fence for the cows for the night. I look at the clearing in the woods and am sure I see this pig jogging along. The clearing is nearly 500 yards away from his original destination and it is across a stream and some swampy areas. This morning my father notices the pig in the heifer pasture and we go to pick him up. I get there and see a scene straight of a 'Babe' movie as it appears he is talking to a heifer which is just feet away. Anyway, we catch him and put him in another pen with more security.

Who says that they aren't smart. Wiley.

 

[LindaB220]

Here's a bit of info on soaking oats or actually fermenting them. They are hard to do and this info is worth taking a look at Chris 09 posted it on another thread.

Simple recipe -
Take a plastic container with a tight fitting lid and add the amount of oats that you will be using for one days feeding in it.
Add enough water to cover the oats about 2 inches and cover.
The next day a good bit of that water should be soaked up and you will have to add more water to cover the oats again.
Keep doing this until the oats don't soak up anymore water.
When the oats stop soaking up water it is done and is ready for feeding.
*Note - You can substitute some or all the water with apple juice. (the good stuff thats unfiltered and looks like they ground the tree up with the apples)

This is a little more complex and meant to feed a lot of birds. Also I found it on the net sometime back.

SOAKED OATS RECIPE
By Alan Butler
Use whole not rolled or crimped oats. The oats mixture does not affect the taste of the eggs nor the taste of the meat of the fowl.
Here is how I do my mix.....the oats do not smell bad and the fowl LOVE them.
1) Get a thirty two gallon PLASTIC heavy duty garbage container with a lid.
2) Into this container add the following ingredients:
1 cup of RED CELL vitamins
1 12oz (340 grams) container of the cheap brand of ground cinnamon
1 packet of vitamin / electrolyte powder
4 quarts of vegetable juice concentrate
3) Fill the container half full of water and stir all the ingredients thoroughly.
4) Add 100 lbs (45.5 Kg.) of whole recleaned Race Horse oats
5) Fill the container with water and cover.
6) after 24 hours add more water and do so everyday until the oats no longer soak it up.
I usually wait 5 to 7 days before I feed them depending on the outside temperature.
I feed a mix that has 25% oats in it. With this mix they do not smell or "go bad".
It seems to me from my experience with my fowl that the longer they soak the better the fowl love them.